


Words That Can't Be Spoken

by Neferit



Series: Noblesse Oblige [3]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Community: dragonage_kink, Dragon Age Inquisition, Dragon Age Kink Meme, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 20:37:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3461216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neferit/pseuds/Neferit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elissa Guerrin, neé Cousland, hears her nephew Connor when he speaks of himself as an abomination. And she doesn't like what she hears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words That Can't Be Spoken

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a [prompt](http://dragonage-kink.livejournal.com/12606.html?thread=49461054#t49461054):
> 
> _I wanted to hug the fuck out of Connor in Redcliffe. My poor baby, whom I worked so fucking hard to save, just to keep Alistair happy with me, all grown up and Harrowed and hating himself. Unable to see that he was a child and his father was dying._
> 
> _Please, give me a Warden who gets a concerned letter from… someone. I don't even care. Probably Leliana. And the Warden drops basically everything to come to Skyhold or Haven and set the babby straight, because no. S/He risked everything to save this kid; he is not allowed to grow up and blame himself for having been ten years old and unwarned about the dangers of the Fade. We let ten year olds decide what they want to wear, what they want for breakfast, whether they'll study arithmetic or history first today — we sure as shit don't let them sign contracts or decide whether or not to let demons "help" them. And besides, if the demon hadn't put the Arl in that coma, he'd have died, and things would have gone to shit a lot faster._

 

Apart from the starting awkwardness, there were no problems with Hawke or the Warden, even if Elissa had temper that was hidden behind her lovely appearance.

Varric was quite glad that it wasn’t him but Enchanter Fiona, who got the brunt of her ire; the Warden being Arlessa of Redcliffe sure added to the intensity of her feelings about the place, especially since it was her family that had been forced to run from their home and seek assistance of the Crown.

It was no wonder that the Enchanter was becoming smaller and smaller under glare of Elissa’s eyes and sting of her sharp tongue. The Warden had been marching on her side of the war table, slapping her palm against the desk at regular intervals, making them all jump, and currently had been telling the mage that right now, only four mages were completely off of her shitlist, two of them being blood mages, one being a known apostate and the forth…

“Auntie!”

Seeing the previously pissed off noble turn on her heel and run towards the young man they met in Redcliffe, Connor (and only now it clicked in their heads that his last name was  Guerrin ) enveloping him in a crushing hug, the taller man leaning down to hug her just as tightly, was something that surprised them all. When they broke their embrace, Elissa held him at arms length and after checking that he still had all his limbs and mental capacities and having those confirmed by him, she put her hands on her hips and glared at him, the man becoming smaller and smaller under the force of her glare.

“Then, young man, I believe you have a good explanation exactly  why you didn’t send your uncle and me a message about your whereabouts.”

“Well…” he started, obviously feeling very awkward, and the woman, his aunt, got the clue, and turning him around, she looped her arm through his.

“If you excuse me, Inquisitor, I have some catching up with my no good nephew to do. But don’t worry, I’ll yell at you all some more later. Now, Connor, let me tell you about the time your cousins nearly caused an international incident...”

Turning back to her nephew, she led him outside, leaving the Inquisitor, Josephine and Fiona to gape after her, Leliana and Cullen chuckling, as they exchanged glances.

-o.O.o-

“I can’t believe that Skylar of all possible people started a fight.”

“Oh, she did. Have you ever had the misfortune of meeting Habren, daughter of Arl Bryland of South Reach? The brat Skylar punched had been her son, since Bryland finally managed to marry her off to some Antivan about seven years ago. And this brat prances around the court with his noble parents, and then he said that all mages should be put down, because they are abominations. I didn’t even know she was anywhere near him, but then there suddenly is a commotion in the corner where the children were told to be good and play, and there is Skylar and Morgan, who jumped in to protect his sister, beating the brat and some of his friends, screaming bloody murder that their cousin Connor is no abomination and that he will take it back  or else …!” She chuckled. “A pity I didn’t hear him saying that. I would have done exactly the same as our little spitfire.”

Connor had been silent for a moment, before he broke the comfortable silence between them as they walked around the battlements. “But I  am an abomination,” he said quietly, causing his aunt to glare at him.

“ Nonsense! ” she barked, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to look at her. “Connor, you are no more an abomination that I am, so stop this line of thought.”

“Auntie,” he said, and in that moment he had been the scared boy she and Teagan brought to Kinloch Hold, because his mother hadn’t been able to see him off properly and his father had been on some political duty or something. Just like Jowan said - having a mage as a child was a disgrace, and even if the woman was willing to die so her son could be saved, she never had been able to face him anymore. Father wrote him time to time, but usually their contact had been reserved to not very in-depth correspondence.

Always so quiet and serious, her nephew Connor, she thought fondly. Unlike Oren, whom she barely managed to save during the attack at castle Cousland, and who had been hiding together with her mabari hound to protect him at Hunter’s Fell, and who was always so vivacious and loud.

“Connor,” she spoke, her hands pressing his shoulder gently, “during the Blight, we needed the assistance of your father very, very much. I, as a Cousland, had a lot of influence, but without Arl Eamon, even that wouldn’t have been enough. If you haven’t done what you did back then, we would never make it to Redcliffe in time. We would never win the Landsmeet. We would never unite Ferelden just in time to gather our forces and defeat the Blight. Ferelden would be lost and Blight left unchecked for Maker knows how long.” She gave him a small smile. “As bad as dealing with a demon was, it was the only right thing to do at the time, and once the hurt of so many dead in the village healed, nobody was truly blaming you for it all; not anymore.” 

Unsure what else she should say at the moment, she started singing; the song made Connor’s eyes light up, conjuring up all the memories of her singing  it to him before he had to leave Redcliffe for the Circle of Magi.

“Some words they can’t be spoken, only sung - so hear a thousand voices shouting love…”

Connor let his aunts voice wash over him; the calming notes smoothing his nerves now just like they did when he was ten and scared out of his wits of never seeing his family again, once the gates of Kinloch Hold closed after him. Instead, his uncle Teagan and his new wife, one of the Wardens that saved Redcliffe, wrote him regularly, and when it was allowed, visited him as often as possible; first alone, then with his cousins.

It was only when the song was near its end that he joined his voice to hers for the last verse. His aunt gave him one more smile, before she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off the battlements.

“I haven’t eaten since morning,” she said lightly, “and hungry Warden is a very dangerous Warden. To the kitchens - lead the way!”

Connor allowed himself a small smile, as he led his hungry auntie to the place where the food was. Silly as she may appear at times, she always knew all the best ways how to deal with spleen.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

And it was, he thought, munching on the cookies they plied from the cooks, enjoying the crumbly treat as a dessert, as auntie Elissa chatted away about this particular Qunari who adored cookies more than anything he could find in his own homeland, once again letting her voice comfort him, as if he were only ten years old.  



End file.
